The joys of the desert and being a housewife!

My first blog post of the year, now that life has settled back down into everyday normal and Christmas has been put away, wasn’t going to be political in nature but the events in Paris this week demand good people speak out against the suppression of free speech.

Over 50 world leaders, of all political persuasions, all religious belief, and all colors united in Paris to march in defiance of the suppression of free speech by the combatants of radical Islam. Israel and Palestine stood together against radical Islam. What nation refused to stand up in defiance? Embarrassingly and unforgivably, The United States of America cowered in the White House and refused to call the Parisian attacks what they were, a salvo in the war on the west by radical Islam.

Wednesday the decades old war on Western values and principles once again struck and killed innocents. This deadly assault on free speech once again has betrayed Islam from within and has left the world defiant at the moment but will these events finally be the spark the West, and the World, needs to stand up and excise radical Muslims from Islam?

This isn’t a problem that can or will be solved by political leaders or mass demonstrations of outrage and unity, it can only be solved by non-radical Muslim leaders and believers. It isn’t a political problem with a political solution. It is a religious problem that can only be solved people of faith that have the courage to stand up in their Mosque, in public, in schools, in their workplace, and in their homes and reclaim their faith from those have hijacked the faith and now present that face of Islam to the world. There is no excuse, there is no justification for non-radical Muslims to cower in their homes anymore. If you truly believe your life is in danger by speaking out against the hijackers of your faith, then perhaps it is time to question your strength of belief and your commitment.

I, as an American and Roman Catholic, can only be a voice in the chorus speaking out against the violence and tragedy that is the state of Islam in the world. Religion and faith evolve and change to suit the faithful. It is time to wake-up and realize that it is no longer the Seventh Century and the world has changed. Women are no longer chattel to be bought, sold, and discarded like broken armor. Conversion by the sword as a religious doctrine is no longer viable. The fundamentals of Islam are not violence, conversion by the sword, or the brutalization of women but when moderates fail to represent their religion, the fundamentals of Islam are represented and driven by the radicals of their faith. It is time to stand up and say no to the continued hijacking of your faith.

As for president Obama cowering in the White House refusing to call the attacks in Paris this week acts of terrorism by radical Muslims is humiliating and solidifies America’s position as xenophobic and pathetic. We used to be a country that believed in free speech and supporting our allies in the world. Now it seems, we believe in letting loose individuals with known terrorists ties on the world and for cowering. We are no longer a world leader, let alone a superpower and it is time we acknowledge what the world learned this afternoon in Paris. President Obama has marginalized this country, leaving her defenseless and vulnerable.

To be honest, the world leaders that marched in Paris today are not perfect. Many, including President Hollande of France, have a history of suppressing speech unfavorable to their political views and we all actively self-censor every time we engage in “politically correct” speech for free of offending someone. It is time to stop PC speech, it is time to stand up to bullies who deny a person’s right to their viewpoint, it is time to say “NO” to limits on speech that might offend someone, somewhere. It doesn’t matter that those 50 plus leaders that marched in solidarity this afternoon in Paris do not have spotless records on free speech or freedom of religion, what matters is what happens now today, tomorrow, and all the tomorrows hereafter. It matters that the civilized world stands up and says no to the further hijacking of our cultures and religions by Islamic radicals. It is time we speak our minds without censoring ourselves. All sense of normal discourse between individuals has vanished and we hide behind self-censored words to protect ourselves, our jobs, our loved ones. The end result of this hiding and censored speech is a global society that has allowed the rise of radical Islam is dominate the world. It is time for that to end, it is time for the average citizen to speak freely and it is time that political leaders stop suppressing speech.

Nous sommes tous Charlie … We are all Charlie. It is more than a convenient slogan or hashtag. It is time we speak freely. It is time to take back Islam from the radicals. It is time we support moderate Muslims as they speak out.

Last several months I’ve been too busy to write much of anything, for the most part I’ve had my nose buried in one book after another. The goal this year was to read one hundred books in 2014, confession time I didn’t make that goal. As of this post, I’ve read fifty books this year. So, I’m resetting the goal for 2015 for one hundred books and I’m comfortable stating that I’ll meet that goal next year.

So, here are the remainder of the bad, the good, the grand, and the fabulous books for the remainder of 2014.

The Bad

While no book is truly bad, even those I find incomprehensible and wonder how they were ever accepted for publication, I consider a book “bad” when I cannot finish it and put the book down before the end of the first fifty pages.

There is one exception,, I read more than fifty pages of this one. To be honest, I just didn’t care about a single character in the story enough to continue to read it any further. It wasn’t poorly written or suffered from incomprehensible settings, I just didn’t like anyone in the book.

The Good

Good books for me are those that hold my attention but aren’t page turners that keep me up all night or I wake up early to finish. That being said, these are all authors I’d read again and enjoyed.

Robin Maxwell is the one author I’m on the fence about. The book was good but it irritated the snot out of me at the same time. It is the first book I’ve read by her and so I will undoubtedly give her another shot but so far, she is my least favorite historical novelist.

The Grand

Grand books are written by authors that have never let me down and who I know I can count on to give me a great story that engrosses me and keeps my attention.

The Fabulous

Fabulous books are those tried and true authors that make you stay up all night reading, books that have interesting characters and well thought out stories behind them.

I’m back into the groove of devouring books and I don’t anticipate that changing in the near future. Once the holidays are behind us, audio books while I stitch and reading at night while hubby games or watches science shows that bore me to tears. I have to give a huge thank you to Scribd for helping me rediscover my bookworm ways. New authors and books I would have ignored in favor of authors I knew wouldn’t let me down. There is an app for all my devices, no losing pages from one device to another, and it now includes audio books as well for a meager nine bucks a month. Ok, it isn’t yet a rival for Audible for audio books but it may very well be by this time next year.

Now, excuse me but I need to finish catching up on overdue blog posts so I can get back to reading!

Sony Pictures cancelled a nonsense comedy, The Interview, after the cyber attack from person or persons unknown, well not really we all know it was North Korea but can’t prove that fact yet. The cyber attacks left past and present Sony employees exposed and vulnerable, embarrassed some executives, and resulted in a foreign power with no true role or relevance on the international stage dictating what content is safe for the world.

George Clooney is right in his assessment, and believe me those are words I never thought I would seriously type in my lifetime. Our litigious society that will sue anyone over anything has fundamentally altered American life, a fact which set my husband off over this issue yesterday as well. Hollywood is so scared of potential litigation that they gave in to the weakest threat of terrorism. The press would rather treat celebrities as newsmakers that report actual news. And the American public quakes in fear in their homes failing to be outraged by an act of war by a foreign power on our shores, the collapse of the federal government in response, and applaud Sony for collapsing under the weight of bad publicity and non-credible threats of acts of terrorism.

The idiots over at Fox News, and they’ve never earned that term so righteously before now, are blaming Sony for the whole debacle. No seriously, they are so adapt at fear mongering they are now advocating that film studios not make any film without first checking for it’s political ramifications with the federal government and that we live in fear of the potential reactions of foreign powers before green lighting a script. It’s only a couple of steps from there to a complete dictatorship where freedom of speech is no longer a Constitutional right. Are you willing to live in a society where the federal government dictates what films get made, what books get printed, and what is acceptable internet content to create and view? Those fine, fear mongers over a Fox believe that is in your best interests.

The rest of the so called press and journalists in this country are no better. They’d rather make a story about a joke told by a Sony executive than cover the true story. Sure the joke may have been insensitive but it was her CONSTITUTIONAL right to make such a joke. Unfortunately we have become a nation of thin-skinned wimps that would rather see mea culpas to racists fools like Al Sharpton than dealing with the real threat. Al Sharpton is a racist, a much bigger racist than any alleged white person racist than publically meets with Shaprton after an incident of free speech is “revealed”. But hey, no one is going to call Al Sharpton a racist in the press and thus vulnerable executives publically ask for his apology whenever something is made public. Why don’t the damn executives stop kotowing to the man and his perceived influence and power over the country? Here’s an idea Sony, stand by your values and what you said. Apologize if you must, but do it to the country as a whole not to Al Sharpton.

I’m tired of the whole damn mess. Sony screwed up badly. Paramount screwed up when they refused to allow a ten-year film, Team America, show in place of The Interview by theatres. The federal government has zero business approving movie scripts or deciding what movies are too “dangerous” for the American people to be exposed to. We have been under attack by a hostile foreign nation since before Thanksgiving and our sole response has been to capitulate to the attack and hide under our beds in fear.

. The “Hula” tree is the first Christmas tree we’ve put up in nine years, since our first Christmas together and our first miscarriage. It was emotionally draining and exhausting but I was determined to put up a tree this year.

Christmas is an emotional minefield for many people and that is true for us too. That first Christmas together we were newlyweds, expecting a baby, and the world looked fresh, new, and shiny. That perfect picture crumbled shortly after New Year’s when I miscarried. I think we were both stunned, shocked, and in denial. I blamed myself and the universe. Dave blamed Christmas Eve Mass where we were forced to stand in a packed Church for the duration of Mass. It tainted Christmas for the years to follow, the emptiness of the house was amplified at Christmas each year.

Something changed this year, we have come to terms with our status as a childless couple. We would have loved to have been blessed with children but God and the universe had other plans. This year, despite the emotional landmines, we bought a Christmas tree and drug out the decorations from the garage. I am not going to lie, I cried unpacking ornaments. It was difficult but I forced myself to go through the motions of decorating the tree and house.

It was difficult but I’m glad I forced myself to complete the house. It wasn’t easy but it will be easier each year going forward. I also now that we’ve missed out on making memories together but we had to take the time to process our grief and loss in our own way. I know neither of us will ever truly be truly over the absence of children in our home but we have made peace with the emptiness.

Like this:

This post is long overdue but under the philosophy of better late than never, it is hereby submitted. What can I say holiday preparations, long weekends, good books, and Dragon Age Inquisition all conspired to suck the desire to write from me. Cannot promise that will change between now and the first of the year but I know everyone else is equally as busy.

Tender Potato Bread

Who doesn’t love a good potato bread? Can’t say I can easily resist a slice of potato bread so when I ran across this recipe on Pinterest I was excited.

Thi

This recipe was far too convoluted and unnecessarily complex to be worth making again. The bread was good and went well with split pea soup but it wasn’t worth the effort or the mess. Not to mention it made far more bread than our household consumes in week.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

I love stuffed peppers, always have to be honest. My husband, not such a fan however and thus I make them so rarely that I can’t recall the last time I stuffed peppers and savored their flavors. Imagine my interest when I ran across this intriguing recipe for stuffed pepper soup. It was fabulous.

All the flavor of the original in a bowl! My husband didn’t hate it, didn’t necessarily love it, but he’d eat it again. Best of all, it is quick, makes even better leftovers, and uses things from our garden and pantry that we always have on hand. This may not be frequently in the “dinner rotation” but it will be made again.

Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Pound Cake

As good as the stuffed pepper soup was, it paled in comparison to this recipe for pound cake.

Now I have a confession to make, not one hundred percent sure this is the right recipe but it is fairly close. The cake was incredible. It is very moist, very tender, and didn’t last long at all. If you love cranberries, or like me and horde them in the freezer for use throughout the year, this will become an easy go-to recipe.

Future installments are postponed until after New Year’s but come January I will be back with weekly installments of Pinterest recipe testing.

Being hopeful, I doubled the recipe knowing it should last until I made dessert next. Nope, they were awful despite how gorgeous and tempting they looked in the pan. The shortbread was overly sweet, the caramel was hard, and the crumb topping was just a crumb version of the bottom shortbread layer. There are MUCH better uses for all of these ingredients.

Next up were the Parmesan Hamburger Buns. Another waste of ingredients, although if I thought it worth the effort these most likely be improved.

I made sausage rolls instead since we were having sausage for dinner last night. The recipe wasn’t difficult but it was too salty. They smelled great baking and turned out beautifully.

This is a prime example of looks being deceiving however. The rolls were too salty from the parmesan and yet managed to be tasteless and bland at the same time.

Creamy Lemon Stovetop Chicken

The highlight of dinner this week was undoubtedly Creamy Lemon Stovetop Chicken. It was so good it was gone before I remembered to take a picture! The skillet was all but literally licked clean by us. This recipe will easily scale up to make for a dinner party or a large gathering. Picky eaters and children might not prefer it but they will be in the minority.

So, overall it wasn’t an overly successful week in trying recipes from Pinterest. I did however make the best spaghetti sauce of my life this week without opening a jar or can. It was an experiment with the tomato powder and sundried tomatoes we purchased from Bulk Foods. Seriously, the best sauce I’ve ever had in my life (sorry Mum). Next time I make sauce I will try and get an idea of how much of this and that goes into the crockpot so I can share.

My husband was working late the night I tried the recipe and I brought him a bowl in his office. He enjoyed it so much, he snuck out of the office for seconds and couldn’t and hasn’t, stopped raving about the meal. It was spicy and sweet. The best part about the meal was it’s simplicity. We don’t have Chinese delivery where we live and this meal will easily satisfy the craving for Chinese food. Also, the recipe will lend itself easily to adaption for pork or beef and the inclusion of vegetables.

Salted Pretzel Bread

Pretzel rolls are a favorite in this house but I’ve never found a recipe that tempted me to make. So it was with caution I made the second recipe this week, Salted Pretzel Rolls.

The recipe called for brown sugar instead of white and honestly, I’m leery of savory bread recipes that call for brown sugar. My misgivings were misplaced, the rolls were excellent if a bit too salty for my tastes. The recipe made eight rolls which were a little large, the size per roll can easily be reduced and still make excellent rolls for sandwiches. The recipes will also easily make traditional pretzels and pretzel bites for a party.

Golden Oreos

I made Golden Oreos for dessert for dinner at my parents house on Sunday. To be honest, initially I found the filling far too sweet. However, the filling mellowed as the day progressed and thus I recommend making the filling ahead of time.

I’ll admit I didn’t follow the recipe precisely. I didn’t chill the batter ahead of time which would have resulted in more uniformly shaped and flatter like the commercial version. However, I like the homemade look of cookies and the irregularity. I will also admit, I like the cookie straight up without the filling.

I have already promised to make these again in a couple of weeks. And judging by the audience above that I had while frosting the centers, the herd wouldn’t mind if I shared with them as well.

by Michelle Rene Goodhew. I am focused on the business of writing, being an artist, and general self improvement. I am seeking commissions as an artist doing portraits, illustration or graphic design. You can contact me by email: goodhewmichelle@gmail.com

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